Boca Raton commuter captures speeding cops on video

A Boca Raton commuter with a smartphone has become a one-man speed enforcer, videotaping South Florida cops and government employees racing on the highways outside their jurisdictions.

His videos so far have captured two high-ranking speeders in uniform – a chief fire officer from Miami-Dade Countyand a police sergeant from Sunny Isles Beach. Both were driving marked SUVs home from work, their chiefs confirmed.

Also caught on camera: A Plantation utilities supervisor speeding to his job and police cars from Miami and Davie in incidents that are still under investigation.

The citizen said he turned on his iPhone video camera after growing tired of seeing cops whiz by him, even after a Sun Sentinel investigation found rampant speeding by off-duty officers and South Florida chiefs promised a crackdown.

"I don't think they're really taking it seriously,'' said the citizen, who asked not to be identified out of concern he'll be targeted for retaliation. He provided the videos to the Sun Sentinel, which passed them on to the respective agencies. (Editor's note: The Sun Sentinel has received videos from readers taken while in pursuit of speeding vehicles. The newspaper does not endorse speeding, which is illegal and dangerous.)

On his 45-minute commute to work in Hollywood, the citizen captured five speeders on video in just 2 1/2 weeks in April. He filmed his own speedometer as he trailed the vehicles at speeds of up to 90 mph.

"These cops are not learning their lesson,'' he wrote in an email to the Sun Sentinel after videotaping the Sunny Isles police vehicle. "Wish I can have a car to take home and pay for my gas as it reaches $5 a gallon.''

That video shows the citizen going about 20 mph over the speed limit as he tailed the police SUV on the Sawgrass Expressway in Sunrise, miles from Sunny Isles, a coastal community in northern Miami-Dade County.

The city's police chief, Fred Maas, said the SUV is assigned to a sergeant in charge of patrol officers, and that when confronted with the citizen's findings, the cop admitted he was probably driving too fast.

"He is willing to fall on the sword,'' Maas said in an interview. "He says, 'Look chief, I've got one of the longest drives so I know I'm in the public view. I've really been trying to be compliant with the law especially since all the media attention.' ''

That attention started in October, when Miami police Officer Fausto Lopez was caught by a state trooper going more than 100 mph to a second job. A Sun Sentinel investigative series published in February found that Lopez habitually sped through Broward County commuting to and from work, and almost 800 other cops reached speeds above 90 mph over a 13-month period, often while off duty.

Police chiefs promised serious consequences. So far, 23 officers in three cities – Sunrise, Plantation and Margate – have lost their take-home cars for up to six months as punishment.

Sunny Isles Beach police were not included in the Sun Sentinel investigation, but Maas posted the articles in his roll call room and after the Lopez incident issued a memo reminding officers that speeding will be "swiftly and firmly dealt with.''

"I am constantly telling them, 'This is unacceptable,' '' Maas said.

Yet the sergeant – a supervisor – still sped. The chief declined to identify the employee but said he's embarrassed and had even suggested his own punishment: loss of his take-home car for two weeks. That has already begun.

The sergeant will still be assessed his regular commuting fee for gas, $78 for the two weeks, which the chief called considerable and "probably equal to what a citation would have cost him.''

"I assure you, we take these matters very seriously,'' Maas said.

In another video, the commuter from Boca Raton followed a Miami-Dade Fire Rescue SUV heading north on the Sawgrass as his own speedometer registered speeds of 80 to nearly 90 mph. The speed limit is 65 mph.

At one point, the fire vehicle passed a Broward Sheriff's deputy in the grassy median who appeared to be conducting radar enforcement. The SUV wasn't stopped.

Miami-Dade Fire Chief William "Shorty" Bryson said the vehicle in the video is assigned to Dean Phelps, a chief fire officer who had just finished his shift.

Phelps told his supervisor "that he was keeping up with traffic and lost track of the speed,'' Bryson wrote in an email to the Sun Sentinel. "The employee will receive a written record of counseling advising him that he violated our policy and future occurrences will result in progressive discipline.''

Two of the citizen's speeding videos are still being reviewed, one capturing a Davie police cruiser in Coral Springs and the other showing an unmarked white car in Broward that the Sun Sentinel traced to the Miami Police Department. Both agencies are now investigating.